As a part of a major effort to help researchers learn more about various diseases like Parkinson’s and diabetes, Apple announced vision for collecting data from patients via iPhone.

ResearchKit, which is what the tool is called, works with Apple’s existing HealthKit platform. Patients with certain conditions can opt in to participate in various clinical studies and surveys (daily, weekly, monthly and so on) that can be evaluated and analyzed by medical researchers. The goal is to ultimately improve patients’ health and the ability to care for them.

It is an open-source platform for creating iPhone apps that collect healthcare research data, will bring together huge swathes of personal data from a significant portion of the population. This is a crucial step in tying big data, connected sensors and medicine together for advancing both public health goals (i.e., anticipating how a disease like the flu might spread) and personal health goals (i.e., improving outcomes for diseases like diabetes).

ResearchKit apps work on iPhone 5, iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and the latest generation of iPod touch devices. iOS apps have already helped millions of customers track and improve their health. With hundreds of millions of iPhones in use around the world, there is an opportunity for Apple to have an even greater impact by empowering people to participate in and contribute to medical research.

The team at Pocket App has been involved in mobile health solutions for over 10 years and we believe mobile has a huge amount to offer: improved information for doctors, better patient interaction and tracking, more accurate diagnosis, and so on.